For those who followed my Dakar story last year, you'll recall that I loved the bike overall, but really wanted more power.

The strengths of the package I took- comfortable ergonomics, simplicity, reliable, familiar, and low budget (relatively!) were things I didn't want to let go of... but let me restate how much I really wanted more power. I sold the Dakar bike to a collector (it now lives in a garage with 3 desmosedicis!), and wanted to find something to fill that slot in the garage.

A great deal came along on a 505XCF (with a 2moto kit!) and my mind started running. Here would be a bike that I could fit the RMK on for trips to Nevada and Utah, that would also be a kick-ass new sport for winter. On a whim, I bought it.

As an aside, here's the 2moto kit in action, on my XCW (since the XCF had already shipped):

It's awesome fun but I hate the cold. If you're interested in it, drop me a PM, it's for sale and I'll make you a great deal.

Back to rally stuff: For those who aren't familiar with the XCF, it shares a similar frame to the XCW, but that's about it. The motor is an oversquare twincam derived from the SX-F (a very similar architecture to the 450 Rally engine), and the racing lineage comes through loud and clear. On most dynos, they make at least 10hp more than the XCW does, but even more, the way they make power leaves no question that the intent is winning motocross races, not threading tricky singletrack somewhere. It is one step away from violent.

This one has a big stator and heavy flywheel, which make it much more pleasant to trailride, but after using it this summer on the high skinny stuff, it was clear to me that its home was in the desert. So, I loaned it to Pyndon when he visited, made him jet it (which he did perfectly!) and then chased him around on the toughest trails I could find doing my best to torture him. If it were someone else, it would have been mean, but he was going to Dakar, so it was training. Here he is in Idaho:

When the call came to go to Tunisia, I knew what bike I was going to build.

__________________Doubletake Mirrors- Folding D/S mirror that is both useful and indestructible.

The way it worked out, I was traveling when the Tuareg came together. I arrived home with about 5 days to build the bike and send it on its way to Oakland to go in the container.

Luckily, C.Vestal is my shop neighbor and I know his weaknesses. So, I had help.

The first step was stripping it down to nothing and getting comfortable with the underpinnings.

Her enduro clothes came off, and valves were checked, bearings greased, fluids changed, everything I could do to get the underlying bike sorted. Then it was time for Chris to work his magic on the front end:

I had taken at least two of everything required to make a rallybike to Dakar, and used only what was on the bike. The only part I had to buy for the Tuareg was a gas tank- Jason at MX1West helped me out with that.

Suspension was my spare set from Dakar (open chambers with stock 2009 XCW valving and .50kg/mm springs, stock rear valving w/ 8.0 spring), spare wheels from Dakar, spare tires and mousses from Dakar... basically, I built the bike from leftovers lying on the shelf. Good thing, too, because there's not much time to order anything in 5 days!

Here's the final product, I have no idea what my expression is about:

I loaded it in my van together with Wild Man's ex-Jonah 525, cRAsH and AnnieGS drove it out to Oakland, and it went in the crate. Here's the US lineup:

The plan had been set in motion!

__________________Doubletake Mirrors- Folding D/S mirror that is both useful and indestructible.